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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Tea Time

This is the perfect card to post today because I need non stop caffeine!!!  Little Miss Ava decided to have a party in the middle of the night and I woke up this morning feeling eyes on me ...... Anton was in bed looking at me.  How do you not smile but it was not about me ........ he had lost Spiderman......... 






And 2 of my favorite photos from the last few weeks

Ava Kristine 


Anton and Emma






Monday, August 30, 2010

Nicole you make me Happy!!!

So here we are hopping around to feel the love for Nicole and all the hard work she does for us.  For me PTI is the Tiffany&Co of all things crafty and it only gets better like the perfect bottle of wine.  Nicole I would like to say a heartfelt "THANK YOU" for all the time and effort you put into PTI.  You make it feel like a home and that we are here enjoying wonderful comfort food.  You take time to make the most AMAZING projects with the new "goodies" and truly inspire all of us to be the best we can be in craft world.

They say that imitation is the best form of flattery.  Today I am posting a card "YOU make me happy" and I was inspired by this card during the release of "All About YOU"  I wanted to use this stamp set anyway because Nicole YOU make me UBER happy, and a happy momma makes a happy husband and happy kiddies and with that being said.......... THANK YOU!!!






Felt leaves from all about you stamped and cut out


Add caption

Have a great day out there friends.   xoxox

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Hello Cupcake


Okay so I was asked by a few people how to make this buttercream.  I will say that it is so good it will make you cry!!!  








5 egg whites or 6 ounces
1cup 2 TBL or 8 1/4 oz sugar
2 lbs unsalted butter / 4 sticks room temp but still cool
pinch of salt

Separate your eggs ( you can keep the yolks for lemon curd :)  put whites, sugar, and pinch of salt in the bowl of your mixer.  You are going to put this bowl over boiling water and whisk until a thermometer reads about 160 or a bit over.  When you get to this point pull out your whisk and whatever is dripping back in rub between your fingers to make sure there is no grit from the sugar...... yes it will be HOT!!!

Now you are ready to whisk the whites on your stand mixer.  Your goal is to whip until they are cool and this will be known from the feel of the bowl.   It will take maybe 8-10 minutes.  Once they are cool enough you can start to add your butter.  The proper way is to cut it into tablespoon squares but I am not proper....... I hold the stick in my hand and break it into the bowl.  As what you have just put in starts to mix in then put in your next piece.  Once you have all the butter in switch over from the whisk to the paddle this is the one I use ,it was life changing for me.  Now just watch the magic happen.  In the end I sometimes go back to my whisk to make sure it is a smooth and whipped as I like.  

So now you are at a blank canvas.  Here you can just add some vanilla to your liking and have vanilla or in the case of these little babies above I added Nutella......... OH YUM!!!  Add as much or little as you like.  I do not add any vanilla with the Nutella.  You can also add peanut butter here to make a PB and J cupcake.  Make a vanilla cupcake and fill with "good" preserve and then you will have the p'butter swiss meringue buttercream on top!!!  

This makes enough to easily fill and frost 18 cupcakes or a layer cake.  You can do a 2 layer cake, cut each layer into half so now you have 4.  Make a fresh raspberry filling with seedless preserved and fresh raspberries (a couple of pints )  mash them into the preserves and pinch of salt.   Fill one layer with the nutella or chocolate buttercream and the other 2 layers with the raspberry filling ......... 

YOU WILL MAKE NEW FRIENDS!!!

Okay so that is it and now I am off to make a strudel~~  

xoxoxo

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Papertrey August Blog Hop



The challenge this month is to use a paper bag in honor of school starting again ....... as I sing in my head "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"..... oh wait...... back to reality.....  none of my kids are in school yet :) Although Emma does know how to use scissors .......we have had to fix many "hairstyles" that she has given to Anton. And Anton understands drawing ....... on walls and Ava, well she eats crayons. We have a laugh a minute around here.

I have been working non stop on a hostess gift for my dear sweet friend Nela........ I love her so much and really do not get to see her as much as I wish. I took the cards up for Curt to see and he asked me how I was going to keep them together, like I had gotten that far in my thought process. I guess he could smell the burning coming from my brain so he said how about a paper bag...... WHAT ?? A P-A-P-E-R B-A-G ...... UREKA ...... today is the 25th and I need wrapping for Nela's cards and the challenge is using a paper bag. So I "hopped" on down the stairs and put this little bag together. I love when my husband has the perfect idea and now I get to be a part of the party this evening!!!

Here are a few of the cards that I made ...... the photos are really dark because the weather is so bad here today and I have NO light in my house.



Baby Girl card with the new mat stack and I used Daily Designs





The Larkspurs are embossed with white .... really pretty IRL but do not show up too well here :(




And here is the paper bag all dolled up and ready to give to my friend tomorrow!!!





And now off to hop around some before bed.  I am getting up early in the morning to make chocolate cupcakes with Swiss Meringue Nutella Buttercream ........ YUMMY!!!!

xoxoox  Sue Ann

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Celebrate Today

Hello World~ Here is a card that I made as part of a "gift" for my friend who is having us for a BBQ next week, I love taking a set of cards as a gift especially to someone who I know will use them!

I cut the " banner " by hand and it is tied up with bakery twine ....... the sentiment is from Round and Round Anniversary but i curved it on my block.





Hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

xoxox

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The most wonderful time of the year!!

Today I am here to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year when it comes to fruit. I love all fruits and the possibilities of what you can do with them and for the most part you can get any fruit anytime of the year except the most amazing Italian Prune Plum or to Germans simply Zwetschgen. Small, delicate and sweet if you find them at the right time.

When I found them this week I was doing the happy dance because my honey, kiddies and father in law are all about Zwetschgen Strudel. This was a staple for my father in law ( Opa) growing up in Germany as well as my mother in law ( Oma) and after the war there was not a lot that was plentiful but people grew Zwetschgen. The first time I ever had this wonderful treat I was dating my husband and he told me his mom made "plum strudel" ...... I will never forget that day and after I asked if she would teach me how to make it, the way to a mans heart is through his stomach, at least in Curt's case!!

I tired and tried ....... it was always good but you have to get the dough thin and that means a ton of patience. For many years Curt had plenty of strudel, when the Zwetschgen are in season I make it every week and so would his mom. His mom passed away late 2008 and I have to say that I am so thankful that I learned so many German traditions from her, she was an amazing woman and I can continue to do things for Curt that he has known his entire life. Now when the season comes we call his dad to come over and we sit and enjoy a strudel and every time he tells me "just like mother use to make", that is a double edge sword because I wish she was here to enjoy with us but I am so thankful that I took the time to learn.

And now when my kids see the Zwetschgen there is a HAPPY DANCE through the house. When I made it this week Emma asked if we could all get dressed up for the Zwetschgen Strudel....... how do you say no?? And of course Opa came over.

Here is the star of the show. These are my left overs and I am going to make a
Zwetschgenkuchen (cake) today for my guys Opa, Curt and Anton. In the background you can see the strudel all rolled up and ready to go in the oven.




This is where the magic happens. When you turn up the oven the milk turns into a sweet cheese ...... AMAZING!!



How is this for an oven?? 1950....... 18 inches wide same as my only counter work space but let me tell you there have been some crazy good meals that have come from this oven!!!


Fresh out of the oven ........ the Angles are singing


This is Emma's plate ........ if we have to have fancy clothes as she says then I have to take out the fancy dishes!!!


Please do not talk to me right now ......... I am in the middle of something very important!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Hello Sunshine

Boy it has been a LONG time since I have updated!! We have been super busy with going to the beach and we went to Alabama for 2 weeks to visit my family and for my 25 year reunion ...... from kindergarten yes that is it kindergarten...... 29 and holding ... mentally :)

We had a great time and I did a ton of cooking for my parents and worked on keeping them stocked in yummy food for 2 weeks since my mom had just been released from the hospital when we got there, thankfully all is going well for her but I did want to make it as easy as possible on her and my dad!!!

I love my Argyle set ...... sometimes it is hard for me to get the ink in there just right :) The kraft cardstock and the scallop are both impressed with the argyle plate........ LOVE IT!!! It was a fun card to put together!!!